Technically Les Ross didn't do 20 years on BRMB, not continuously anyway. He did IIRC about 14 years then moved to one of the company's sister stations for a few years and then came back to BRMB for another nine years or so before spending the next fifteen years hopping around the various radio networks in the area.
Well yes, sister station Xtra AM, but hey for a Telly forum it's good enough.......
I think they have been tinkering with the VR version of Studio B in Studio A, and not necessarily an improvement.
Marr did an interview with Boris Becker which was recorded in A. The pillar to the left of Boris looks oddly rendered, with a surface texture which doesn't appear in reality.
http://i64.tinypic.com/s5af53.jpg
Furthermore, when showing this wide shot, there were some very odd artefacts appearing in the top left corner.
http://i64.tinypic.com/20ux3zd.jpg
Here’s an interesting article from TVNewsCheck with Mike Ellis on the move to IP. It looks like they want IP everywhere and one thing they’re finding difficult is monitors where they’d need HDMI converters. I was thinking they’d require a lot of converters for IP to displays and maybe cameras. However they’re partnering with Grass Valley for a lot of the infrastructure and I assume they’ll use those cameras which I believe have an IP output.
Does the BBC have any modern Grass Valley HD cameras in use for studios (I know they’re used in OBs) or are they pretty much all Sony?
I’m also interested if they will use the facility and design it as a test bed for 4K production? A lot of the Grass Valley IP equipment is 4K capable. The only issue is I imagine bandwidth fitting it to a 10Gbps pipe but I think that’s TICO compression that most of the major manufacturers are part of.
Also, isn’t aren’t a lot of areas NBH designed for broadcast outside the studios that aren’t designed for regular use (I’m thinking of shots during Business Live where there’s obviously a camera operator and they are using the Bloomberg terminal) ? I imagine they won’t have fiber drops or hookup a camera that requires a CCU for a temporary live shot. So I imagine there’d still be SDI.
Here’s an interesting article from TVNewsCheck with Mike Ellis on the move to IP. It looks like they want IP everywhere and one thing they’re finding difficult is monitors where they’d need HDMI converters. I was thinking they’d require a lot of converters for IP to displays and maybe cameras. However they’re partnering with Grass Valley for a lot of the infrastructure and I assume they’ll use those cameras which I believe have an IP output.
Yes - non-broadcast chain connectivity (floor monitors, monitor stacks, prompt feeds etc.) using full-fat 2022-6/7 or 2110 seems a bit of a waste - and will bump costs up. Getting bitrates <1Gbs makes life a lot easier.
One of the major uses for NDI compression is in routing edit suite 'broadcast' monitor feeds to KVM edit suites (replacing routers) (KVM editing is pretty common now. Install all of your Avid crates in a CAR, then just make them and their monitoring available anywhere using NDI+KVM solutions)
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Does the BBC have any modern Grass Valley HD cameras in use for studios (I know they’re used in OBs) or are they pretty much all Sony?
BBC NBH and regions that have replaced their elderly SD cameras with HD in preparation for a switch to HD are standardised on the Sony HSC300 (running over Triax not SMPTE)
BBC Studioworks (which is arms length) is Sony HDC 4300s (with HDC 2500s in HD I think) BBC outside broadcasts - before it was sold to SIS Live - was also all-Sony eventually (in the late 70s and 80s they used a mix of Philips, Sony, Ikegami and some Fernsehs)
The remaining in-house BBC OB trucks in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all Sony (HDC1500 possibly with some 2500s)
Older BBC regional centres have Thomson TTV1707s (Thomson became part of GrassValley and the TTVs were sold with GVG branding briefly, but GVG cameras are really the descendants of Philips LDK series)
In the UK Sony is the dominant player in broadcast cameras. NEP were GVG/Philips LDK for their SD and HD trucks, but have switched to Sony HDC4300s globally now. Arena in the UK have switched from Sony SD/HD cameras to GVG LDXs in their new trucks, but that is because they have a fully GVG IP solution (TICO for UHD I think).
If you talk to any maintenance or camera operators you know everyone prefers Sony. The ergonomics are better, and they are more reliable. You always need to buy one more GVG camera than Sony for any installation as one will usually be in maintenance... You also have to be careful re-patching GVG cameras on-air (in case they don't come back up), whereas with Sony it's just a standard way of working.
The BBC are using GVG IP/SDI nodes - but aren't committed to an entirely GVG operation in Cardiff.
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I’m also interested if they will use the facility and design it as a test bed for 4K production? A lot of the Grass Valley IP equipment is 4K capable. The only issue is I imagine bandwidth fitting it to a 10Gbps pipe but I think that’s TICO compression that most of the major manufacturers are part of.
The building is built to include UHD post-production for drama (not sure if this includes 4K) but the bulk of the infrastructure will be HD. If they go 2022-7 then they will need to still use Quadrant or 2SI techniques, if they go 2110 then they can carry UHD natively potentially (with or without TICO)
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Also, isn’t aren’t a lot of areas NBH designed for broadcast outside the studios that aren’t designed for regular use (I’m thinking of shots during Business Live where there’s obviously a camera operator and they are using the Bloomberg terminal) ? I imagine they won’t have fiber drops or hookup a camera that requires a CCU for a temporary live shot. So I imagine there’d still be SDI.
They sometimes use RF cameras around the building. News often go cheap-skate and use HD-SDI Outputs from camcorders. However non-news shows would prefer to do things properly by plugging a SMPTE or triax camera into a correctly patched wallbox. This is a single cable drop and gives you prompt, tallies, the operator gets reverse, the camera gets remote iris/black and shading control etc. Doing that with an SDI solution is a lot of plugging, or you lose facilities.
Given that you can use SHEDs to get SMPTE cameras over commodity fibre, there's little reason to go the HD-SDI route IF you've planned your infrastructure accordingly. However if you haven't then RF or an HD-SDI solution is quick and dirty.
I think they have been tinkering with the VR version of Studio B in Studio A, and not necessarily an improvement.
Marr did an interview with Boris Becker which was recorded in A. The pillar to the left of Boris looks oddly rendered, with a surface texture which doesn't appear in reality.
http://i64.tinypic.com/s5af53.jpg
Could that be they were shooting an angle not usually used on Marr pre-records in A. Aren't they usually hard-set interviews on chairs rather than the sofa?
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Furthermore, when showing this wide shot, there were some very odd artefacts appearing in the top left corner.
http://i64.tinypic.com/20ux3zd.jpg
Was talking to a friend who is working on the new BBC Wales HQ and I didn't realise that in addition to the news studio, there's a larger studio which is about the same size as TC2. Nice that they're factoring in some sort of studio options beyond news.
Was talking to a friend who is working on the new BBC Wales HQ and I didn't realise that in addition to the news studio, there's a larger studio which is about the same size as TC2. Nice that they're factoring in some sort of studio options beyond news.
Yes, 340 m^2, plus use of the atrium for election progs, CiN etc, serviced by an OB truck on a 'park up' basis